


Love Is Unreasoning

by jonfuckingmoxley



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, M/M, good old fashioned grimes-dixon family bonding, really just a ridiculous little thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-19
Updated: 2016-01-19
Packaged: 2018-05-14 23:08:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5762518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jonfuckingmoxley/pseuds/jonfuckingmoxley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>little Grimes-Dixon family thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Is Unreasoning

“I don’t know, Carl. I don’t know how okay I am with you kids being by yourselves.”

 

“It’s only for a night, and I can bring my knife or gun with me.” 

 

“Carl, I just…I don’t know.” 

 

Carl had been trying to convince his father to let him spend the night with some of the other kids in Alexandria at a sleep over in one of the thus-far unclaimed houses. He didn’t know why his dad was so worried. They’d be safe, hell, they’d be right down the street. He knew his dad was being cautious, because even in the safety of Alexandria, he couldn’t let his guard down. And Carl could understand that caution, they all could, they’d all lost too much getting to this point to feel any other way.

 

But this was a little ridiculous. Literally like. Five houses away. And the other kids were just as smart and cautious as Carl, and his dad had to understand that he couldn’t be around Carl all the time, and couldn’t watch out for him all the time. Maybe he was worried about them being without adult supervision, too. Nothing was going to happen though, nothing…like that. At least Carl wouldn’t be doing any of that. Stuff. Stuff like that. Things like that. 

 

And he felt a little awkward assuring his father of that out loud, so he was hoping that Rick had made the assumption. “Please?”

 

“Please what?” Carl and Rick turned to look at the doorway at the same time, both of their hands going to where their guns once were, but relaxing when they saw it was just Daryl. Well, not just Daryl, as he was holding Judith in his arms. 

 

Carl smiled a little when Daryl walked over to Rick, handing Judith over and leaning in so that Rick would kiss him. 

 

That hadn’t been much of a shock to Carl. He had seen the way Daryl looked at his dad, almost from the start. And he had noticed his dad looking at the hunter the same way, though Carl thought his dad didn’t seem to realize it until way later. Carl had only seen them really start to get together after Terminus, and after that…they needed it. It was nice to see his dad so affectionate with someone again, even if Carl did stick his tongue out at them whenever his dad got particularly lovey-dovey. 

 

There was consolation in the fact that Daryl often stuck his tongue out right back at Carl. 

 

And Daryl was a pretty awesome guy, and definitely a good match for his dad. He was strong and loyal and witty and cool, and once you got through the tough exterior, he was a very loving man, too. Carl saw that every time Daryl held Judith, from that first time back at the prison. 

 

Daryl came to stand next to Carl, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back on the counter, waiting for an answer. 

 

“Carl wants to go to that sleepover thing that some of the kids are having. I just don’t know how I feel about them being alone.” 

 

“Hmm.”

 

Carl turned to Daryl. Maybe he could convince Rick. “Come on, Dad, you both will be right down the street, and it’s only one-”

 

Carl stopped, eyes going wide as he felt himself blush. 

 

Daryl reacted in pretty much the exact same way, blue eyes going wide and his face turning a bright shade of red. 

 

It was very quiet all of a sudden, Rick’s jaw slack and the only noise being made by Judith as she happily tugged at her father’s shirt. 

Judith had yet to really call anyone anything substantial, just parts of names. But Carl had always called Daryl by his first name, apart from way back at the Atlanta camp, when his mom had first insisted on him calling everyone “Mr.” or “Mrs.” or whatever. After that, by the time they were at the farm, Daryl had always been Daryl. 

 

He had never given much thought to calling Daryl his dad. He never knew if the older man would be okay with it, though now that he thought about it, he really did consider him a parent. Daryl had been protecting him and his family since all this started. He always made sure that Carl and Judith got food before anyone else, always tried to find things they’d like when he was out on runs or recruiting. And there was Daryl’s relationship with Rick. 

 

Carl glanced over, seeing Rick still holding Judith, but his mouth was no longer open in surprise; now he just had a huge grin on his face. 

 

Carl then looked back to Daryl, who had shifted his gaze to the ground, hiding behind his bangs. He hoped he hadn’t made him uncomfortable.

 

“That-” Daryl coughed into his elbow before crossing his arms over his chest again, moving to lean against the counter like he had been, “that sounds fine by me, kid. Don’t come home hungover or nothin’, you know. Just a damn sleepover, don’t sound like any big deal. ‘Sides, y’all’ll be just down the way.” 

 

Daryl was looking away from him, but from the small bit of his face that Carl could glimpse at, he could see the older man’s lips twitching like he was trying to hold back a smile.

 

Carl looked over to Rick, who still had the grin on his face. “Well, you heard your dad. If he thinks it’s fine, then I gotta agree.” 

 

Daryl was looking at Rick now, the almost-smile replaced by a look of worry, like he was checking to see that it was really okay that Carl had called him dad. Rick’s smile softened and he gave a little nod. That seemed to relax Daryl a bit.   
Carl leaned back against the counter once again as well. He leaned over a bit into Daryl’s space and said, very softly:

 

“Thanks, Dad.” 

 

Daryl looked at him a moment, and seeing a grin that matched Rick’s, he laughed a little, playfully bumping Carl’s arm with his elbow. 

 

Carl laughed with him, before going to kiss Judith on the head and walking to the door, saying over his shoulder that he was going to go tell his friends that he could come. 

 

He thought about what had happened as he walked. He was happy that Daryl didn’t mind, he was happy that Rick didn’t mind. Both of his dads. Carl liked the sound of that, in his head, “My dads, Rick Grimes and Daryl Dixon.” 

 

The only downside was that now, he had to deal with two separate sources of really bad dad jokes. And he knew that both of them had plenty.

**Author's Note:**

> i feel like a lot of people talk about judith calling daryl some version of 'dad' and i just really wanted carl to do that because come on. adorable.


End file.
